The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 8B, June 28, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
2 Corinthians 8:7-15. In order that there may be a fair balance…’the one who had much did not have too much and the one who had little did not have too little.
Mark 5:21-43. Do not fear, only believe.
O God of Healing and Restoration, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
What a week. What a week of so many tears. Tears of sorrow, of anger and despair, tears of amazement, tears of joy and relief, and tears of hope and brave determination. The people of Charleston, South Carolina are still burying the nine faith-filled people massacred in Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church a week ago last Wednesday while they were praying together and studying the Bible. The families of the martyrs have declared forgiveness for the shooter. They are continuing to testify and demonstrate that love is stronger than hate, and more powerful than death. Wednesday Bible Study went on as scheduled this past week with about 100 people jammed into the room where so much blood had been spilled the week before. Pastor Pinckney’s lesson the week before had been about the parable of the sower. Pastor Goff’s lesson the week after was about the power of love – full of parables from both Hebrew and Christian Testaments that reportedly had the people in that gathering laughing and crying at the same time. What powerful seeds of love are being sown by Mother Emanuel. And that’s not all.
Calls to remove Confederate flags from government facilities are being answered. Major retailers have pulled merchandise depicting the Confederate flag. Donations to Republican Party candidates from the racist organization cited by the murderer are in the process of being forwarded to the Mother Emanuel Hope Fund to assist the victim’s families. And that’s not all.
Nearly six and a half million people who have health insurance coverage due to the Affordable Care Act didn’t have their coverage subsidies cancelled. The Supreme Court also did some very important dismantling of the prison industrial complex when it ruled that the harsh mandatory minimum sentencing of the Armed Career Criminal Act is a violation of due process. Extremely long mandatory minimum sentencing is a measure that is used increasingly in states that have for-profit prisons, where private prison corporations have been earning about $3B/year on the backs of incarcerated people, on the backs of poor people, and on the backs of African American people. For profit prisons only make money when prison cells are full; lower crime rates are very bad for business, so they promote longer sentences. The Supreme Court has been steadily dismantling mandatory minimum sentencing laws, thanks be to God. And that’s not all.
You probably heard that this past Friday, same-sex marriage became legal across the whole United States. Six years ago today, Emmanuel Church in Boston was featured in a program about same-sex marriage called Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly –remember that? Eighteen years ago, Emmanuel Church’s Rector, Bill Wallace, was a founding member of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, along with Rabbi Howard Berman and Rabbi Devon Lerner, which organized a response of education, advocacy, and lobbying to secure civil marriage for same-sex couples in Massachusetts. Thirty-three years ago, Emmanuel Church held a wedding for two beloved men of this congregation, a marriage without legal protection but with the powerful declared blessing of this parish and of the Holy Trinity. 1982. Good work, Emmanuel Church. Well done good and faithful servants. And that’s not all.
Friday and Saturday your vestry met on retreat to deepen our connections and our appreciation of one another as the leadership team of Emmanuel Church. We identified challenges and opportunities for growth in this parish, for leadership development, and for increasing ways for all of us to experience the joy of giving back from the abundance we have received. It is thrilling and so moving to me to work with such gifted and generous people elected by you and charged with leading this congregation. And that’s not all.
Yesterday afternoon, the House of Bishops meeting at the Episcopal Church’s General Convention elected on the first ballot, Bishop Michael Curry of the Diocese of North Carolina to be the 27th presiding bishop. When he takes office on All Saints’ Day this year, he will become the first person of color to serve as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. About the election, Vice President of the House of Deputies, our own Byron Rushing said, “I think the church needs to take a deep breath and figure out how remarkable this is, what God and the Holy Spirit have given us. This is a huge gift, and we have to say, what will we do with this incredible gift? It’s the opportunity both of Michael and the…unity he has been able to demonstrate.”
Yesterday’s Episcopal News Service story quoted Bishop Curry, speaking during an interview after his nomination was announced last Spring, using a phrase from an old spiritual saying, “our hand must be on the Gospel plow…” Bishop Curry went on to say, “We are followers of Jesus – Jesus of Nazareth – and the truth is we’ve got a message to proclaim, a life to live and something to share and offer the world…There’s a lot of suffering in this world. There’s a lot of heartache, there’s a lot of nightmare. We are people who believe that God has a dream and a vision for this world, and that Jesus has shown us how to follow him in the direction of that and how to help this world live into God’s dream and vision for us now. Our work is actually the work of participating in the Jesus movement, which seeks to realize God’s dream and seeks to accomplish God’s mission in this world.” [1] That, in fact, is all. That is all? Yes, that is all: “Our work is…the work of participating in the Jesus movement, which seeks to realize God’s dream and seeks to accomplish God’s mission in this world.”
Our lectionary this morning delivers three readings that seem so perfect in light of this extraordinary week. From 2 Samuel, we hear the lament of David over the death of his beloved Jonathan, whom he loved the most of all; a lament about how the mighty have fallen and the weapons of war have been destroyed. That “is the work of participating in the Jesus movement, which seeks to realize God’s dream and seeks to accomplish God’s mission in this world.” We hear Paul’s encouragement to the Church in Corinth to be generous so that there may be a fair balance, that each would have what they needed: ‘the one who had much did not have too much and the one who had little did not have too little.’ Paul was quoting Exodus 16:18, reminding the people of their Torah obligation and their honor to make sure that those who do not have what they need are provided for by the gathered community. That, too, “is the work of participating in the Jesus movement, which seeks to realize God’s dream and seeks to accomplish God’s mission in this world.”
And we have the jackpot of all healing stories in Mark – the daring, desperate hemorrhaging woman who doesn’t just delay Jesus’ arrival to Jairus’ house where his daughter is dying, but serves as the interpretive key to a puzzle about faith and healing. The key is about faith against all odds, and a power of healing associated with Jesus that is more effective than medical treatment, so strong it can be transmitted through clothing, and so indiscriminate and untamed it can be transferred without his explicit consent. [2] It’s ironic that this story within the story, originally intended to inspire faith sometimes becomes an obstacle to faith for folks who get stuck in the traffic jams of scientific or socio-historical analysis of whether or not these things could have really happened. To them I respond with my usual response: it might not have happened, but “just because it didn’t happen, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
The contrasts between Jairus (a name that literally means “God enlightens”) and the hemorrhaging woman could not be more stark or extreme. The man was named. The woman was anonymous. Jairus was a prominent member of the community. The woman was a nobody. Jairus made a public display of repeatedly begging Jesus in front of his face. In a shocking reversal of his dignity, he fell at Jesus’ feet. The woman came up to Jesus from behind in secret. In a shocking reversal of her indignity, she stole a touch of Jesus’ cloak. Jairus had everything to lose. The woman had nothing left to lose. Jairus was advocating for his daughter. The woman had no advocate; she was advocating for herself.
If the hemorrhaging woman’s story is the interpretive key, what is opened up to us by studying her? Nothing less than heaven’s gates! I think that her story teaches us that if the healing power of Jesus is available to folks on both ends of the spectrum of honor and shame, surely it is available to you and me. This healing power of Jesus is wildly inclusive of people who normally would not associate with one another. And there seem to be no obstacles too great or ailments too inconsequential for the healing power of Jesus. Even women and girls are included! [3] And healing is not just for women like Peter’s mother-in-law who seem to be healed just so that they can serve a meal. This hemorrhaging woman (and Jairus’ daughter, for that matter) are healed and not heard from again. They become free to live their lives in thanksgiving. They become free to excel in joyful and generous undertakings.
It’s also ironic that this message of hope about how the healing love of Jesus is for everyone – that none is left out, gets used as a perverse measuring rod of people’s faith, which is then used to find faith lacking. So I want to remind you that in Marks’ Gospel, the disciples consistently lacked faith, and regularly failed to understand what they had witnessed first hand. While faith and understanding were often cited as reasons for healing, faith and understanding were never a prerequisite to experiencing the healing, transformative love of God. Despair and fear are the norm throughout Mark. So if you are frequently feeling despair or fear, or feel that your faith is very small, Mark is the Gospel for you. The healing and transformative love of God through Jesus goes on, believe it or not, understand it or not, consciously permit it or not. That “is the work of participating in the Jesus movement, which seeks to realize God’s dream and seeks to accomplish God’s mission in this world.”